After I tackled the ham and cheese omelet last week from Modernist Cuisine, I was ready for the next step: their infamous striped mushroom omelet. I had to go online and to four grocery stores to collect the ingredients necessary. About $75 later I was ready to go. This had better be a good omelet.

The Cast Of Characters

The recipe calls for several preparations: a brown chicken jus, which goes into a mushroom marmalade, a mushroom puree and the omelet base. A scrambled egg foam was also made, but I ran out of N2O chargers for my cream whipper. So the sous vide scrambled eggs sit sealed in my refrigerator until I can go to the store and pick some up. We’ll skip that step.

Now, brethren, let us turn to Book Four, Chapter Fourteen, Page Ninety-Five of The Work, and construct ourselves a tasty little omelet. Three components need to be prepared in particular: the eggs, the cheese, and the butter. Ah, the wonderful world of dairy gels. We shall go in reverse order.

Although the title sounds like the beginning of a bad personals ad, this recipe couldn’t be more innocuous. I wanted to play with the notion of a classic shrimp cocktail, and somewhat by accident (and inspired by a brainstorming session with Jethro), I realized that I could dehydrate cocktail sauce and produce something that looked quite a bit like prosciutto. Prosciutto-wrapped shrimp is a great dish on its own, and on first glance, that’s what this dish might appear to be. However, in a single bite, you’ll quickly identify the unmistakable flavor of cocktail sauce.

Method:

Spread cocktail sauce (bottled or homemade – I’ll admit to using bottled) in a thin, even layer on a piece of parchment. Make the layer just thick enough that there are no holes or gaps in coverage.

Dehydrate in a food dehydrator at 135F for 2-3 hours or until it is dry to the touch. If you don’t have a dehydrator, you may be able to achieve similar results in a low oven with the door cracked slightly.

Carefully peel the parchment away from the dehydrated cocktail sauce. It will peel away just like a fruit leather. Place the cocktail “leathers” on a silpat or another sheet of parchment – they will stick to counters and cutting boards.

Cut the leather into strips, 3/4” wide by 7” long (for medium shrimp – adjust the size as needed).

Cook shrimp using the method of your choice. Refrigerate until cool. Wrap the shrimp in cocktail leather. Serve, and watch for the look of surprise on the faces of your guests.